MOTHERS FOR MARIJUANA

Activist Group Looks to Change Image of Marijuana Supporters

On the eve of Mother's Day weekend, a group of women held a press
conference at the State Capitol in hopes of changing the face of the
pro-marijuana movement.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Senate gave final approval to a bill that
would regulate Colorado's booming medical marijuana industry.

The diverse group of women gathered at the capitol yesterday to
formally launch the Women's Marijuana Movement (WMM). With the
tagline, "Safer for us. Safer for all," the national group is working
towards the legalization of marijuana for adults. As part of the
group's launch, WMM is offering e-cards that people can send to their
mother to "let them know that they believe marijuana is a relatively
safe and entirely acceptable alternative to alcohol."

"(We need to) do away with the hippies and the Cheech and Chong
stoner image and start putting these new faces to it," said
recreational marijuana user Crystal Guess. "The only way we can do it
is to just come out of the closet and stop being so afraid to talk about it."

Jessica Corry, a conservative lawyer who helped found the group,
brought her two young daughters to yesterday's press conference. She
said WMM members are dedicated to "acknowledging that (marijuana)
prohibition has failed."

"We're here to say enough is enough, the time is now to end
prohibition and to take back our responsibilities as parents, as
women, from gun-toting bureaucrats," she said.

Corry and many of the other speakers yesterday pointed out the ways
in which they believe marijuana is safer than alcohol. According to
the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, more than
97,000 students have been victims of alcohol-related sex assault and
date rape each year. University of Denver student Sarah Groten said
that her personal experiences in college have led her to believe that
marijuana doesn't cause people to become aggressive like alcohol does.

"I'm much more comfortable and safer around guys who are stoned
instead of drunk," she said.

However, Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said that research
conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) proves that
marijuana legalization could harm children. Research shows that a
child's marijuana use depends on the availability of the drug, the
perceived risks or consequences of using the drug, and social norms
regarding the drug, he said. The AAP argues that legalizing marijuana
would negatively impact all three of those factors and lead to an
increase in marijuana use by kids.

But Corry argued that "the failed prohibition on marijuana" has
allowed plenty of kids to get their hands on marijuana and that it
should be a parent's job to keep the drug from their children.

"Too many parents have given away responsibility away to our
government," she said. "We need to take responsibility as parents to
fight back for our children's future."

The WMM press conference was largely organized by Mason Tvert of
Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), a group dedicated
to pointing out the ways they believe marijuana is safer than
alcohol. Tvert is unsure whether he will have the funding to get an
initiative legalizing marijuana in Colorado onto the 2010 ballot.

Still, Tvert believes more Coloradans are in favor of legalizing
marijuana than in 2006, when a similar ballot initiative failed on a
61-38 percent vote. He said polling has shown support for
legalization growing every year.

But Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, thinks that not only would
Colorado voters reject such an initiative, they would also likely
approve a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

"The expansive, dramatic increase of dispensaries on every street
corner and the availability for people, that's not in the intent of
Amendment 20," he said. "People I'm hearing from don't like it."

HB 1284

With only minutes to go until the Senate was to vote on a
comprehensive medical marijuana regulatory bill, Renfroe wasn't sure
if he would support the measure.

He supported giving local municipalities the option of banning
dispensaries from operating within city limits, but believed the bill
would legitimize the retail dispensary model, which he opposes. He
ended up voting against the bill.

Bill sponsor Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said while the bill wasn't
perfect, it wouldn't produce the dire consequences that Renfroe worried about.

"What we have really truly done in a bipartisan way is to go into
uncharted territory, do what the voters asked us to doEand basically
bring this out of the shadows and let the truly chronically ill get
relief," he said.

The bill passed on a 26-9 vote.